The debate over Holy Communion and whether the coronavirus can be transmitted through it is gradually opening up again over the last few days in Greece.
After the additional measures taken with the latest Joint Ministerial Decision, which included churches in the places where the use of a mask is obligatory, it seems that the issue of Holy Communion is again on the agenda.
The Holy Communion is deemed as a “problem” by Professor of Genetics of the University of Geneva Manolis Dermitzakis, who talked about the pandemic to the Greek Channel SKAI TV.
“Holy Communion is a problem since we know that the virus is transmitted through saliva,” said Manolis Dermitzakis, who argued that the issue was not up for discussion because “there was tension” on the issue. But he insisted that it was “a problem that needs to be solved.” The professor said that he believed that there would be an outbreak of cases shortly after the days of the 15th of August, after the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, due to the “intense religious activity”.
In addition, he argued that the Church should operate in accordance with other companies such as catering, where specific measures have been imposed regarding the number of people, social distancing or whether people should have the right to sit or not.
“We ask the entrepreneurs to take very specific measures and we impose fines in case of non-observance. We should ask any other institutions, such as the Church, to organise their activities in such a way that they take responsibility for the fact that there will be neither overcrowding nor activities that can lead to the transmission of the virus,” he said, referring indirectly to Holy Communion.